The incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and its investigators were sent to the scene overnight

A 40-metre stretch of Wokingham Road between Hamilton Road and London Road was closed foloowing the incident

Thames Valley Police chief constable Sara Thornton said the fatal collision in Reading this morning involving a police car is being fully investigated.

The incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and its investigators were sent to the scene overnight.

A 40-metre stretch of Wokingham Road between Hamilton Road and London Road was closed after a police vehicle, responding to a burglary in Eastern Avenue, struck the man and a police officer at around 1.45am.

The officer was taken to hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening. The man was declared dead at the scene.

This is the third incident in 18 months where a death has occurred following a police pursuit and the IPCC has investigated.

John Morland, 30, and Kris Jarvis, 39, were mowed down by disqualified driver Alexander Walter, of Beech Road, Purley, in a stolen car while out cycling on February 13.

The crash happened in Purley when Walter was driving a stolen black BMW sports car and was being pursued by a police car.

One year before that in February 2013, Matthew Seddon, 19, of Wensley Road, Coley Park died after the red Ford Fiesta he was driving collided with the central reservation of the A33.

His car was being followed by six police cars at the time of the collision. Mr Seddon, who had recently moved to the Reading area from Sudbury in Suffolk, was thrown into the road and hit by a police car.

As a result of their investigation the IPCC served misconduct notices to eight police officers and passed one officer’s file to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to the criminal offence of careless driving. The CPS did not take any further action.

Speaking this morning Chief Constable Thornton gave reassurances that the incident is being taken “very seriously”.

She said: “This is the third incident in the force, they have all been in the Reading area. There aren’t other incidents elsewhere, and when somebody has died we take it very seriously.

“All cases have been dealt with by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, as this case is, they came out last night and my assistant chief constable was out last night and we take it very, very seriously.

“We need to find out exactly what happened and if people have acted inappropriately, they will be held to account and we need to make sure further that there is nothing in our systems or processes.

“But in these cases, policing can be a high risk business. But we have to do our best to protect the public even though it is high risk and also protect our officers as well.”